In a complex technological environment, information is commonly stored in heterogeneous databases on a wide range of media. An organization's mission-critical information can be housed in a central server, updated on a continual basis via an online transaction processing (OLTP) system or an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, using relational databases like Oracle, Sybase, or Microsoft Access. Other information can be housed remotely on servers and downloaded via specialized software. Still other information can be stored on Compact Discs and updated periodically with new releases.
One traditional approach to integrating disparate data sources is built around the notion of a “data cube,” or dimensional database, which employs a star schema to organize the constituent data sets. This technology can place high demands on system resources when the entire data cube must be rebuilt after a single data set or data point changes. Also, since the entire data cube must be traversed when merging, subsetting, or analyzing data, this process can be slow, creating system bottlenecks.